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Camp Preview by Position Group

How does the overall 2019 roster compare to the 2018 roster?

  • Clearly worse in 2019

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    80
  • Poll closed .

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Coming off a 5-7 season and on a long losing streak, what do we have by position group and how does it stack up to 2018's roster? Where did we upgrade, where did we take a step back, and where do we not know what we have?

Quarterback

Have to assume this is an upgrade from 2018. No one graduated or transferred out, so it's the same guys with a year more of development. Montez is a 5th year senior who will be the full-time starter for a 3rd season. Primary backup looks to be Lytle after him moving past Noyer in the spring. Stenstrom was injured in the spring but will compete for a role in fall camp as a RS-Freshman.

Tailback
Losing McMillian to graduation was a blow. 1,000 yard rusher and home run threat every time he got the ball. Also lost Evans to graduation, who didn't have great stats but the fact remains that no one returning was able to beat him out last year. Our 2018 RB3, Bisharat, has moved to H-Back. Returning is Fontenot, who is up to 195 lbs and had a better YPC than Evans last year. Also returning are Smith, who redshirted last year and is up to 190 lbs, and Broussard, who also redshirted and is up to 180 lbs. Newcomers are Mangham, a 4* recruit who weighs in at 215 lbs, and Davis, who weighs in at 210 lbs.

Wide Receiver
Graduated Winfree, a super talented player who struggled with injuries and hardly got on the field, MacIntyre, a highly productive slot receiver who had a knack for getting open and had reliable hands, and Ento, a jump ball threat who played sparingly.

Returning players are led by Shenault, who might be the best WR in the nation and is almost certainly the top WR in the conference. Next is Nixon, who caught over 50 balls last season and would be the #1 option on many P5 teams. Brown returns for his senior year after being 3rd on the team in receptions (33) and yards (333) last season.

So with the top 3 guys on production coming back, the question is on depth. Stanley, Arias and Jackson flashed last season and all look like they have a lot of potential. Bell showed what he could do with a great performance in the Spring Game. Thomas is hopefully healthy this season as he works his way back, but was the most heralded of the young guys when they were recruited in 2018. From the 2019 class, we have another Shenault along with Huffman-Dixon to add a couple more big WRs. Last, 4* Luckett will get his first opportunity at WR.

Tight End
Last year we entered the season with Bounds as the starter, Russell as a walk-on, Poplawski making a return from injury, and Jones learning the position as a raw JUCO transfer. Bounds quit football, Russell earned a scholarship, Poplawski got hurt again and Jones never earned playing time.

This year, Poplawski is healthy and up to 250 lbs. Russell is established as a quality H-Back in the conference. Jones remains a question mark, but he like Russell has beefed up to 255 lbs. Bisharat has moved over from tailback to add depth at H-Back. Leading the newcomers is Harris, a grad transfer and former top 20 TE recruit who was a part-time starter at Auburn and had a very nice spring game. Also new is Stillwell, a JUCO transfer who was a wildcat QB in HS and has switched to TE in college. There is also a chance that Gustav moves to TE rather than sticking at OLB.

Offensive Line
Last year's starting OL was a bit of a revolving door, but 3 guys who were usually in that mix were Tonz, Haigler and Kaiser. All 3 graduated. That leaves the following with starting experience: Lynott, Pursell, Sherman and Fillip. The major addition is Hambright, a grad transfer who was Oklahoma State's starting LT last season until he suffered an injury. Other players who played last year and return are Kutsch -- a JUCO transfer last year, Moretti -- still in injury recovery but probably the most talented OL on the roster, Shutack -- a walk-on who transferred from Rutgers and could earn a scholarship, and Lytle, Paige & Vaughn who have yet to play much.

Newcomers and those coming off redshirt years are Sauvau, a JUCO transfer, Ray, a former 4* who was recovering from injury last year, Roddick, a well-regarded recruit who redshirted while getting into better physical condition last year, and a group of true freshmen we don't yet know much about: Wiley, Johnson, Senn and Pohahau.

Defensive Line
This position group had the biggest offseason shakeup, by far. 2018 starter at NT was Edwards and his backup was Tuiloma while Sami redshirted. 2018 starters at the 2 DT positions were Antwine and Johnson with Mulumba, Franke and Lang the primary backups. Edwards, Tuiloma, Antwine, Mulumba and Franke have all departed along with a couple other depth pieces in Roberts and Finau.

For those scoring at home, that's 1 returning starter in Johnson -- an all-conference player who is up to 290 lbs and may be an NFL draft candidate after this year. Sami and Lang are the other expected starters and both physically look the part at 6'6" 320 and 6'7" 280, respectively. Two JUCO transfer sophomores were brought in to bring immediate depth -- Doss as a 255 lb DE and Jordan as a 305 lb DT. The freshman newcomers are big, but we don't know anything yet: Williams (6'5" 320), Murray (6'2" 325), Rodman (6'2" 295) and Simon (6'2" 265).

Inside Linebackers
The only loss here was Gamboa, a 4 year starter who made a lot of tackles and was a very intelligent player but was a bit undersized and lacked ideal speed. One starter returns with Landman, who may be the best ILB in the conference this season as a junior. Also returning are Van Diest -- a 4* recruit who was working his way back from injury last year but had a great spring, along with Newman, Robinson and Jones who haven't played enough to distinguish themselves.

Additions to this group are a couple heralded JUCOs with Allen and Perry along with a top recruit in Ham. A recent surprise addition is Lameta, a JUCO transfer from Garden City CC who was an all-conference player last year and could earn a scholarship.

Outside Linebackers
The main departure from this group is Lewis, who had been slated to start at ILB last year until Landman's emergence pushed him to the outside. Hamilton, who sat out last year, has also left. Leading the returning players are Taylor -- a 2018 starter with elite speed, Callier -- a starter at the start of 2018 who missed most of the season with injury, Wells -- a pass rusher who emerged toward the end of the season, Tchangam -- another pass rusher who emerged as the season went on, and Falo -- a player who has had an up and down career but has flashed. Newcomers include a heralded JUCO with Montgomery, a top in-state signee with Pell, and a potential TE who will get his first look at OLB with Gustav.

Cornerbacks
Returning as a starter is Abrams, who was probably CU's best DB in a forgettable 2018 secondary. Departures include Wigley -- a part-time starter, Sanchez -- injuries & graduation, Udoffia - a part-time stater who is now a safety, Ronnie Blackmon -- a punt returner & nickel back, and George -- a player who never cracked the depth chart.

Other returning players would seem to give CU some options at the top of the depth chart. Mekhi Blackmon came on as 2018 progressed to become the 2nd best CB last season while Miller has been heralded as the best athlete with the most potential in the group -- if he can bulk up a bit and stay healthy. Hudson is an upperclassman walk-on who could figure in as a nickel back. It is likely that 1 or more true freshmen will have to factor in from a group that includes Trujillo, Oats and possibly Luckett if he doesn't stay at WR.

Safety
Going into 2018, this was supposed to be one of the strengths of the defense with Fisher and Worthington, but both had uneven seasons with injury issues. They have graduated along with Trego, a backup who played a lot. Promising freshman Hypolite also left the program. Returning are a few players who got time last season: Udoffia -- who was a part-time starter at CB, Rakestraw -- who saw significant action after injuries hit the position last year, and Maddox -- also saw significant action after injuries hit last season. The other returning scholarship player is Lewis, who hasn't been able to crack the rotation yet.

Newcomers are a highly regarded freshman in Perry and a grad transfer in Onu who started for SMU and was a pre-season all-conference pick in the AAC. This position group also has a walk-on in Cooper who might earn significant playing time and a scholarship this camp.

Specialists
CU lost some expected depth when Loy transferred out from the Punter position. However, this is more than offset by an extra year of eligibility from Kinney, who is potentially an all-conference Punter. Also returning from injury is Placekicker Stefanou along with his backup and 2018 scholarship P/K Davis Price. Joining them are walk-on RS-freshmen Francis and Evan Price who both played last season, making field goals, while not appearing in enough games to lose their redshirts. Returning as the Long Snapper is Bale, one of the best in the college game.
 
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In terms of projected starters/heavy rotational guys, below is how I would rate each group relative to 2018 (-1 is worse than 2018, 0 is neutral and +1 is better than 2018)

QB: 0 - In theory, Montez should be better, but we'll have to wait and see
RB: -1 - I believe this position group will ultimately be better than 2018, but we haven't seen anything from this group yet
WR: +1 - Assuming a healthy Shenault all year automatically makes it better, but another year for KD and Brown to go with regular PT for Arias, Stanley, JJ and Bell?? Best WR group in the conference.
TE: +1 - Harris should provide a veteran TE who can help in both run and pass game. Pop healthy and up to 250 is great news and Russell has plenty of experience and is a decent player.
OL: +1 - Hambright and Sherman at the Tackle positions is a massive upgrade over Sherman and the rotation at RT last year, the experience and leadership of Lynott at Center is going to pay big dividends, Pursell/Roddick/Ray at the two Guard positions is infinitely better than Tonz and Lynott/Pursell at Guard last year.

DL: -1 - Mustafa is awesome, but lost Antwine. Lang is going to be a dude, IMO, but is probably a downgrade right now. Sami is probably better than Javier, but again, we don't really know yet. I think this is another position group that will prove to be better than 2018's group, particularly with the larger bodies from the JUCO guys and the Freshman kids.
OLB: 0 - Not really a special group in 2018, and not a ton changed. Improvement from Taylor, Wells, Callier and Tchangam could be expected, but this group is neutral right now.
ILB: +1 - This position is probably a +2 or +3, but we'll stick with the scoring system. Along with WR, the deepest and most talented position on the team.
CB: 0 - I like Abrams, Miller and Mekhi-Blackmon and think Trujillo could also help at some point this season. Hopefully improvement and a healthy Miller elevates this group.
S: 0 - I actually think this group will be better than last year's underwhelming veteran duo, but it's mainly counting on a G5 grad transfer, converted CB and True Freshman, along with Maddox and Lewis obviously.

K: 0 - Stefanou was pretty good last year and he should be about the same in 2019
P: +1 - Kinney is an All Conference caliber Punter back for his final season

That's a total score of +3, with really only two position groups who look worse right now than 2018 hindsight.
 
In terms of projected starters/heavy rotational guys, below is how I would rate each group relative to 2018 (-1 is worse than 2018, 0 is neutral and +1 is better than 2018)

QB: 0 - In theory, Montez should be better, but we'll have to wait and see
RB: -1 - I believe this position group will ultimately be better than 2018, but we haven't seen anything from this group yet
WR: +1 - Assuming a healthy Shenault all year automatically makes it better, but another year for KD and Brown to go with regular PT for Arias, Stanley, JJ and Bell?? Best WR group in the conference.
TE: +1 - Harris should provide a veteran TE who can help in both run and pass game. Pop healthy and up to 250 is great news and Russell has plenty of experience and is a decent player.
OL: +1 - Hambright and Sherman at the Tackle positions is a massive upgrade over Sherman and the rotation at RT last year, the experience and leadership of Lynott at Center is going to pay big dividends, Pursell/Roddick/Ray at the two Guard positions is infinitely better than Tonz and Lynott/Pursell at Guard last year.

DL: -1 - Mustafa is awesome, but lost Antwine. Lang is going to be a dude, IMO, but is probably a downgrade right now. Sami is probably better than Javier, but again, we don't really know yet. I think this is another position group that will prove to be better than 2018's group, particularly with the larger bodies from the JUCO guys and the Freshman kids.
OLB: 0 - Not really a special group in 2018, and not a ton changed. Improvement from Taylor, Wells, Callier and Tchangam could be expected, but this group is neutral right now.
ILB: +1 - This position is probably a +2 or +3, but we'll stick with the scoring system. Along with WR, the deepest and most talented position on the team.
CB: 0 - I like Abrams, Miller and Mekhi-Blackmon and think Trujillo could also help at some point this season. Hopefully improvement and a healthy Miller elevates this group.
S: 0 - I actually think this group will be better than last year's underwhelming veteran duo, but it's mainly counting on a G5 grad transfer, converted CB and True Freshman, along with Maddox and Lewis obviously.

K: 0 - Stefanou was pretty good last year and he should be about the same in 2019
P: +1 - Kinney is an All Conference caliber Punter back for his final season

That's a total score of +3, with really only two position groups who look worse right now than 2018 hindsight.
I'd put RB at -2. Big drop off there until proven otherwise.

TE is a zero to me. Bounds was solid and Russell was solid. Don't think we have anything but "solid" there, but we do have more depth.

OL is a +1 but it needs to be a +3. We were that bad. (no change from shecks). Let's hope coaching matters.

ILB is a zero. Potential to be better, but Gamboa had all those snaps for a reason: no one could take his spot.

S: -1. Had solid starters last year till injuries ruined everything. Sheck's description screamed -1 at least, maybe this should be a -2. That grad transfer is what is saving it.

Gives me a -1 overall.

Conclusion: this season will tell us a lot about team buy in to the coaching change and the value of coaching. Might tell us a lot more about our first year head coach than would normally be expected.
 
I'd put RB at -2. Big drop off there until proven otherwise.

TE is a zero to me. Bounds was solid and Russell was solid. Don't think we have anything but "solid" there, but we do have more depth.

OL is a +1 but it needs to be a +3. We were that bad. (no change from shecks). Let's hope coaching matters.

ILB is a zero. Potential to be better, but Gamboa had all those snaps for a reason: no one could take his spot.

S: -1. Had solid starters last year till injuries ruined everything. Sheck's description screamed -1 at least, maybe this should be a -2. That grad transfer is what is saving it.

Gives me a -1 overall.

Conclusion: this season will tell us a lot about team buy in to the coaching change and the value of coaching. Might tell us a lot more about our first year head coach than would normally be expected.

Agree on everything but ILB. If we are not better... oh boy.
 
I'd put RB at -2. Big drop off there until proven otherwise.

TE is a zero to me. Bounds was solid and Russell was solid. Don't think we have anything but "solid" there, but we do have more depth.

OL is a +1 but it needs to be a +3. We were that bad. (no change from shecks). Let's hope coaching matters.

ILB is a zero. Potential to be better, but Gamboa had all those snaps for a reason: no one could take his spot.

S: -1. Had solid starters last year till injuries ruined everything. Sheck's description screamed -1 at least, maybe this should be a -2. That grad transfer is what is saving it.

Gives me a -1 overall.

Conclusion: this season will tell us a lot about team buy in to the coaching change and the value of coaching. Might tell us a lot more about our first year head coach than would normally be expected.

We were 103rd nationally at 3.8 ypc last year We lost nothing that isn't fairly easily replaceable.
 
We were 103rd nationally at 3.8 ypc last year We lost nothing that isn't fairly easily replaceable.
Our running game sucked for lots of reasons. Our RB was fine. Our depth was horrible. Our scheme was worse. Our OL was the worst. Right now all we have is the ****tier depth than last year from our returners and potential from the young guys. We lost proven starter quality production and behind it we have ?????????

Duff's got a point on ILB. But I just can't get around the fact Gamboa never came out of games.
 
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QB: 0
RB: 0, no go to guy like Travon but more depth and different abilities back there. I am excited to watch actually
TE: +2, that group was a joke last year, Russell did all he could but adding Harris and Pop back is huge.
OL: +2 Grad transfer tackle, Lynott a year removed from injury, Sherman bulked up, Roddick stepping up. Mostly a huge upgrade in coaching and mentality of what your line should look like
WR: 0, no real change here, gain some good young talent but Winfree was still a good player
DL: -2 Edwards played pretty well in 2018 and we have no depth now with Antwine leaving
ILB: +2, can't wait to watch a defense with an ILB that isn't that slow
OLB: 0
CB: 0 Miller healthy and Blackmon a year older, depth is suspect
S: -1 lost two multi year starters but those guys did under perform in 2018. Some solid young talent that should help to go along with Maddox who looks like he is fully recovered and a grad transfer that should help with depth if nothing else.

Overall: +3
 
QB: 0
RB: 0, no go to guy like Travon but more depth and different abilities back there. I am excited to watch actually
TE: +2, that group was a joke last year, Russell did all he could but adding Harris and Pop back is huge.
OL: +2 Grad transfer tackle, Lynott a year removed from injury, Sherman bulked up, Roddick stepping up. Mostly a huge upgrade in coaching and mentality of what your line should look like
WR: 0, no real change here, gain some good young talent but Winfree was still a good player
DL: -2 Edwards played pretty well in 2018 and we have no depth now with Antwine leaving
ILB: +2, can't wait to watch a defense with an ILB that isn't that slow
OLB: 0
CB: 0 Miller healthy and Blackmon a year older, depth is suspect
S: -1 lost two multi year starters but those guys did under perform in 2018. Some solid young talent that should help to go along with Maddox who looks like he is fully recovered and a grad transfer that should help with depth if nothing else.

Overall: +3

I'd still have to put WR in the + column. Losing Viska for the home stretch was devastating.
 
QB: Needs backup to emerge and depth for next year.
RB: Starting over...might as well start the freshmen who were in for the spring.
FB/TE: The numbers are there and it's time to see if the production follows.
OL: It has been too long since we had a good OL.
WR: Starters are solid but the backups need to play since Shenault will be gone after this season.
DL: Depth isn't there. An injury to Johnson will be bad.
ILB: I'm optimistic about this group. Good thing I got a 4K TV with 120hz since there will be more speed overall.
OLB: Same view as the ILB group. Good thing we have some pass rushers there...that will be needed.
CB: No depth and pass rush better be good this season.
S: What happened to this group?

WRs and LBs look good to me. TEs & FBs could really take a big step forward. The RB and secondary need solid seasons from the interior lines to mask their shortcomings.
 
QB: +1 - I'll use Liufau as the model here, he had 3 crappy season followed up with a pretty special SR season when he wasn't injured. I'm expecting Montez to be improved this year as a 5th year SR after he had a flat growth curve from freshman-junior seasons.

RB: -1 - It is what it is.
WR: +1 - The top end talent returns and there is a significant upgrade in athleticism in the slot.
TE: +1 - Harris and an even better Russell.
OL: +1 - Hambright and Sherman are the two known P5 quality starters, these two alone account for the "+1" along with a massive improvement in the position coach. Lynott is a mystery, hopefully improves on the same slope as he did as a freshman/sophomore before he was injured. The guards should be bigger and stronger then last season, whoever plays.

DL: -1 - Johnson and Lang are not enough to offset the losses.
OLB: 0 - Has the potential to be a "+1" with an improved Taylor and if Wells blows up. Stick with a "0" until proven otherwise.
ILB: 0- Should be a "+1" if JVD or one of the new guys plays well. No matter, the upgrade in speed and athleticism will be vast.
CB: 0 - Same dudes with no blue chips. Expecting Udoffia to come back here if there are injuries. 2018 and 2019 head coaches were good CB coaches so a wash there too.
S: 0 - Might be a "+1" cuz it is hard to be worse.

Specialists: 0 - Loss of the starters last year didn't end up with much of a fall off in production. Same guys same coach same results.


+2 net for me.
 
I have a hard time evaluating the previous backups (now potential starters) on this team (ie tailbacks). For some reason, Laviska played very little as a freshman while the senior starters got field time while showing a lot of poor play. The previous coaching staff may have been guilty of parking better players on the bench for some unknown reason while upper classmen got to play, regardless of their effort.

I'll give the new starters the "Laviska show-me" treatment and hope that I'm right, vs. condemning them because they didn't see the field as underclassmen.
 
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QB: +1 - I'll use Liufau as the model here, he had 3 crappy season followed up with a pretty special SR season when he wasn't injured. I'm expecting Montez to be improved this year as a 5th year SR after he had a flat growth curve from freshman-junior seasons.

RB: -1 - It is what it is.
WR: +1 - The top end talent returns and there is a significant upgrade in athleticism in the slot.
TE: +1 - Harris and an even better Russell.
OL: +1 - Hambright and Sherman are the two known P5 quality starters, these two alone account for the "+1" along with a massive improvement in the position coach. Lynott is a mystery, hopefully improves on the same slope as he did as a freshman/sophomore before he was injured. The guards should be bigger and stronger then last season, whoever plays.

DL: -1 - Johnson and Lang are not enough to offset the losses.
OLB: 0 - Has the potential to be a "+1" with an improved Taylor and if Wells blows up. Stick with a "0" until proven otherwise.
ILB: 0- Should be a "+1" if JVD or one of the new guys plays well. No matter, the upgrade in speed and athleticism will be vast.
CB: 0 - Same dudes with no blue chips. Expecting Udoffia to come back here if there are injuries. 2018 and 2019 head coaches were good CB coaches so a wash there too.
S: 0 - Might be a "+1" cuz it is hard to be worse.

Specialists: 0 - Loss of the starters last year didn't end up with much of a fall off in production. Same guys same coach same results.


+2 net for me.

Agree with pretty much everything.

One big point about the specialists though: we did lose production when Kinney went down, as the net punting average dropped by nearly five yards.
 
That CB group is interesting. If they stay healthy (admittedly a big if), that group could be a +2 or +3 over last year's group. Hard to overstate how bad the 2018 group was at that position, especially down the stretch.
 
That CB group is interesting. If they stay healthy (admittedly a big if), that group could be a +2 or +3 over last year's group. Hard to overstate how bad the 2018 group was at that position, especially down the stretch.
It's the same top 3, so that's weird. But if we hit on some of the frosh
 
Offensive scheme changes are probably where the biggest upside lies in my opinion, more so than personnel changes.
So much of this season comes down to scheme. Can our offense have consistently successful drives that aren't so reliant on a single big individual play to score? Can our defense play fast and bring pressure? That's the idea, but I don't know how to predict whether things will work to plan and to what degree.
 
I'd put RB at -2. Big drop off there until proven otherwise.

TE is a zero to me. Bounds was solid and Russell was solid. Don't think we have anything but "solid" there, but we do have more depth.

OL is a +1 but it needs to be a +3. We were that bad. (no change from shecks). Let's hope coaching matters.

ILB is a zero. Potential to be better, but Gamboa had all those snaps for a reason: no one could take his spot.

S: -1. Had solid starters last year till injuries ruined everything. Sheck's description screamed -1 at least, maybe this should be a -2. That grad transfer is what is saving it.

Gives me a -1 overall.

Conclusion: this season will tell us a lot about team buy in to the coaching change and the value of coaching. Might tell us a lot more about our first year head coach than would normally be expected.
Aside from ILB, I also disagree on Safety. Fisher and Worthingtin were absolutely terrible last year, so giving this years group a 0 is already grading them down. Honestly, Safety is probably the one position that deserves a +1 for “benefit of the doubt” of being better than the atrocities we had back there in 2018. I can’t overstate enough how awful those two were and it’s inexplicable that 4th and 5th year seniors could actually be as bad as they were.
 
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QB: +1 - I'll use Liufau as the model here, he had 3 crappy season followed up with a pretty special SR season when he wasn't injured. I'm expecting Montez to be improved this year as a 5th year SR after he had a flat growth curve from freshman-junior seasons.

RB: -1 - It is what it is.
WR: +1 - The top end talent returns and there is a significant upgrade in athleticism in the slot.
TE: +1 - Harris and an even better Russell.
OL: +1 - Hambright and Sherman are the two known P5 quality starters, these two alone account for the "+1" along with a massive improvement in the position coach. Lynott is a mystery, hopefully improves on the same slope as he did as a freshman/sophomore before he was injured. The guards should be bigger and stronger then last season, whoever plays.

DL: -1 - Johnson and Lang are not enough to offset the losses.
OLB: 0 - Has the potential to be a "+1" with an improved Taylor and if Wells blows up. Stick with a "0" until proven otherwise.
ILB: 0- Should be a "+1" if JVD or one of the new guys plays well. No matter, the upgrade in speed and athleticism will be vast.
CB: 0 - Same dudes with no blue chips. Expecting Udoffia to come back here if there are injuries. 2018 and 2019 head coaches were good CB coaches so a wash there too.
S: 0 - Might be a "+1" cuz it is hard to be worse.

Specialists: 0 - Loss of the starters last year didn't end up with much of a fall off in production. Same guys same coach same results.


+2 net for me.

This seems right to me.

Will it translate to more wins?
 
I'd put RB at -2. Big drop off there until proven otherwise.

TE is a zero to me. Bounds was solid and Russell was solid. Don't think we have anything but "solid" there, but we do have more depth.

OL is a +1 but it needs to be a +3. We were that bad. (no change from shecks). Let's hope coaching matters.

ILB is a zero. Potential to be better, but Gamboa had all those snaps for a reason: no one could take his spot.

S: -1. Had solid starters last year till injuries ruined everything. Sheck's description screamed -1 at least, maybe this should be a -2. That grad transfer is what is saving it.

Gives me a -1 overall.

Conclusion: this season will tell us a lot about team buy in to the coaching change and the value of coaching. Might tell us a lot more about our first year head coach than would normally be expected.
Our running game sucked for lots of reasons. Our RB was fine. Our depth was horrible. Our scheme was worse. Our OL was the worst. Right now all we have is the ****tier depth than last year from our returners and potential from the young guys. We lost proven starter quality production and behind it we have ?????????

Duff's got a point on ILB. But I just can't get around the fact Gamboa never came out of games.
I like the objectivity and realism. I think Gamboa never came out of games because apparently he was:
1. Favored by MM's senior bias bull****
2. Cerebral with high football IQ
3. Considered a leader
Maybe our depth and talent at ILB was/is that shallow, but something tells me there was little to be done by any ILB to crack that spot when MM was HC. Dude loved him his seniors, and loved him his leaders, fast-twitch sideline to sideline ILBs be damned.
 
I thought the biggest mistake with the 2018 defense was moving Lewis outside instead of starting him inside with Landman. Gamboa & Lewis should have been in a rotation like Gamboa & Gilliam were a few years ago.

We were just fine on the outside with Taylor + the Callier/Wells/Tchangam platoon.
 
QB: 0 - Montez is what he is at this point. I just don't think he has that "it" factor that could put him in a rare category due to his talent.
RB: minus 1 - We shall see. Mangham, I think, is our only hope to matching last years player talent. The scheme will be better but can the rb's find the correct holes?
WR: +1 - This WR group is filthy. Talent all around. Really excited to see Stanley this year and think that position is an improvement.
TE: +1 - We will actually use the TE position, so almost a plus one by itself. Getting a healthy Pop and the graduate transfer in Harris will help tremendously. Still a long ways away to anything I think the staff wants, but an upgrade none the less
OL: +1 - I think we see the biggest step forward at this position from any group on the team. The starting tackles are legit and have next level talent. The inside still has Lynott and everyone else has good size. Need to stay healthy on the outside.
DL: minus 1 - Yikes. This could get really bad, really quick with even one injury to the starting 3. I do like the starting 3 and think those three are the closest group CU has had to the 2016 group.
OLB: 0 - Pretty much the same here. Let's hope Wells can improve as I think he is the most complete out of the group. Will be interesting to see how the staff uses Taylor.
ILB: +1 - This is the best position on defense. Some good talent in the starting group and looks to be good depth.
CB: 0 - Yikes. Pretty much the same scenario as dline. The starting 3 are very talented and CU will be fine if they all stay healthy, but that is almost unrealistic. If there are multiple injuries here, they are in big trouble.
S: minus 1 - Until proven otherwise, we take a step back this year. Last years group way underperformed, but you didn't have to worry about any mental lapses. Gonna need Perry to be ready very quickly
K: 0 - Stephanou is a very good kicker. Not sure I've seen a kicker this injury prone, though.
P: 0 - Same as kicker. Kinney is a very good punter, but how can the specialist be this hurt the last few years? I almost went with a plus one as Kinney was gone pretty much all of 2018.

Overall, a +1. I hope that is enough for a bowl game, as I think the scheme will be better on both sides (especially offense). Need a couple newcomers from dline and secondary to step up and be ready to play right away.
 
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